29 March - 4 April 2001
Issue No.527
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527 |
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The times and MENA
Once the premier source of regional news, the Middle East News Agency is struggling to meet the demands of the information revolution. Al-Ahram Weekly takes a walk through MENA corridors old and new
On 21 November 2000, the wires were lit up with news of Egypt's provocative move: "Egypt withdraws ambassador from Tel Aviv" the headlines flashed. The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Agence France Presse (AFP) and every wire service with their fingers dipped in the Middle East carried the news that for the first time in 18 years, Cairo had recalled its ambassador to Israel -- a response to Israel's "excessive violence" against Palestinians in the occupied territories. Though the story was hot, experience still told editors to confirm the breaking news, either through their correspondents or with the country's most reliable source -- the Middle East News Agency (MENA).
As Egypt's official news agency, MENA addresses the world in Egypt's name, but it is also the authoritative source for regional news. If MENA broadcasts it, then it is officially confirmed. It's a tall order from an increasingly demanding international community accustomed to accurate and immediate news. These days, it is not enough that the information be correct; it's got to be catchy and interactive -- people want to see it, hear it, feel it, and now.
Established in 1956, the fledgling MENA quickly gained worldwide recognition as the only Arab news agency with correspondents in all Arab capitals. In less than a decade, MENA had made a name for itself; in the 1950s and 1960s, the government news agency provided an exclusive eye on the political upheavals in the region from a local and official perspective. Later, MENA was the model on which many newer Arab agencies were launched.
In February, MENA celebrated its 45th anniversary. In almost half a century of operation, the agency has perhaps seen its heyday; now it feels the pressure of an increasingly high-tech world. The urgency of news and the intensified competition have nearly caused MENA to buckle under. Mahmoud Ahmed, MENA's deputy chief editor, remarked ominously that "If we hadn't started reorganising and modernising, we would have either been liquidated or privatised."
Aggressive modernisation plans began two years ago, and an extensive revamping of the agency's headquarters and services is projected to continue over the next few years. The first news agency in the Arab world, Africa and the Middle East, MENA is determined not to let an illustrious legacy fall to pieces and the administration's plans are both ambitious and expensive.
Today, MENA is struggling to recover from a relative fall from grace, edged out of the limelight by effective reporting in the region by numerous other agencies that don't suffer from the constraints of being government owned or the mouthpiece of the state. Chief Editor Mahfouz El-Ansari told Al-Ahram Weekly that MENA's ambitious programme to upgrade the agency's facilities and whip its staff into shape was "beginning from scratch" on all counts. El-Ansari says that his main concern is revitalising his editorial staff and providing them the tools to make full use of opportunities when they arise. "We're trying to eradicate the fear factor that holds many of our reporters prisoner," El-Ansari said.
Prominent Al-Ahram writer Salama A Salama faults MENA for not evolving beyond its original raison d'être in 45 years. "[MENA] was created to counter foreign coverage of the region by presenting an Egyptian and Arab perspective on events and to mobilise the Arab masses," Salama told the Weekly. "Today, the agency is still stuck in this mould of conveying the official line and defending and promoting the government's policies. They still believes their role is to be the state mouthpiece."
But toeing the party line is bound to cripple a news agency's professional profile and as a journalistic medium, critics say MENA falls short. "They are no longer journalists covering the news, but rather civil servants speaking on behalf of the state," Salama charged. El-Ansari parried the attack by noting that while MENA is owned by the state -- "like all the national press" -- the state does not interfere in its editorial policy. "Editorial policy is the responsibility of the chief editor and editorial board," El-Ansari said, adding that a news medium's credibility should not be judged on its ownership alone. "You build a reputation of credibility according to whether your facts are trustworthy," he said. "Ownership is not an issue, we're talking about hard news."
And yet, with regard to MENA, ownership is largely part of the problem. Saying that El-Ansari is savvy enough to strike a balance between government policy and objective reporting, Salama suggested that MENA would benefit from cutting its umbilical chord to the state. Some members of the national press, Salama argued, have succeeded in expanding their margin of freedom "through intelligent and careful reporting and writing."
When El-Ansari took the helm at MENA in 1998, he found the organisation in dire need of an overhaul, both its services and staff morale. MENA stalwarts have complained that the news agency suffered from wasted potential and poor resources and the level of professionalism was below par. The first task undertaken to revitalise MENA was to virtually gut the agency's aging downtown headquarters on Huda Shaarawi Street and bring them vigorously up to standard.
The refurbishment of the neglected 11-storey building began with a LE5 million pledge by the state, but the millions have multiplied several times since. While no total figure has been given on how much is being spent to rejuvenate the national news agency, one need only look at some of the smaller numbers to get an idea. Some LE4 million was spent on new electricity generators, LE10 million on central air conditioning and the same amount on new computers and staff training. Apart from sporadic lump sums for construction work, MENA is paying LE1 million every month to contractors in order to stem a mushrooming debt for construction costs.
The new headquarters boasts a 120-seat conference room that has already hosted French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, when he met the Egyptian press in May 1999. While cats and mice infested the dusty halls of MENA corridors in the past, the old trash shaft running through the centre of the building has now been transformed into a stained glass skylight straddling the extension to the newsroom. The three marbled and high-tech floors that will house the editorial staff are scheduled for inauguration in a few months.
MENA staffs around 1,300 employees, only 400 of whom are reporters; they are at the core of the new MENA vision. "Our reporters need exposure, knowledge and access to the information out there, as well as experience in the field," El-Ansari asserted. Salama countered that MENA needs to "revive journalism's spirit of innovation," and gradually phase out "the old-timers, with their desk-job mentality." Not only are they an obstacle to reviving MENA, he said, "but their docile and stagnant style of working is contagious among the younger generation."
To entice MENA staff to use computers, a special raise was awarded to anyone who switched over. El-Ansari says the plan was successful, and that "soon everything will be computerised. There will be no more of this wasteful pen and paper." But with regard to the fast-paced information technology revolution, MENA is still grappling with the latest developments in news transmission. While UNESCO ranks MENA as 11th among the world's news agencies, much still needs to be done. According to El-Ansari, staffers of all ages and experience will have more opportunities to travel abroad on assignments. "Our cadres must test their talents in the field," he said.
MENA was born of a different age of journalism -- the era of state-controlled media. Today it must worry about generating income and conceptualising its niche in a wide market of news providers. "The more financially independent they are, the more professional they will become," Salama suggests. The point is acknowledged by MENA's chief, whose long-term plan is to gradually reduce the agency's dependency on state funds. "By expanding our services and increasing our subscribers, we can become a viable, money-generating entity," said El-Ansari. "Even if we are still regulated by the same press laws, our independence from state funds is important," he admitted.
Numerous new services and training programmes are under way in order for the national news agency to keep pace with the times. MENA's new computer centre, established in cooperation with the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), will be available to all journalists, administrators and technicians and a multimedia systems service was established in cooperation with AFP, Cairo University, and the IDSC. A training programme at the elite Higher Centre for Communications focusing on IT training is now offered, and a LE5,000 fine is incurred if a student misses even one class. Finally, MENA is cooperating with AFP to modernise how it transmits news and graphics.
So where is all this hard work going? MENA uses three satellites to serve over 340 subscribers at home and abroad. Its main services are the local and overseas Arabic news service, but there are also various Arabic, English and French language bulletins. A new service will add graphics and digital photography and the agency will soon be online, with electronic archives. Subscribers are not limited to media organisations, but also include government ministries, banks and embassies.
Even though MENA has 43 bureaus worldwide, organisations that use MENA are mainly concentrated in Egypt and Arab countries. MENA is aiming higher, however, hoping to open up more bureaus abroad and establish a strategic research centre for regional training that would host Egyptian, Arab and African journalists. MENA also plans to step up agreements with news agencies abroad to expand coverage capabilities and develop professionally through cooperation with European agencies.
For a short time, MENA translated and broadcast the Arabic bulletin for a number of foreign language wires like AFP, Reuters and the German Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA), as well as Chinese and Japanese news agencies. This cooperation has dwindled, but MENA is working to revive ties to foreign news agencies in the form of training, utilising broadcast facilities and commissioning of stories.
France's AFP is primarily charged with the task of modernising MENA's work systems through training and sharing technical support. The two agencies also hope to cooperate in three mutually relevant regions -- the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa. "We're trying to reach some kind of partnership with them," El-Ansari said, adding that MENA also plans to form affiliations with other Arab agencies. These collaborations have been developed in order to reestablish MENA as a breeding ground for regional talent and to inaugurate a renaissance of top-notch reporting for an agency with a name to live up to.
Boiled down to its essence, MENA's greatest asset today is that it correctly conveys the official position -- but, naturally, this is not the stuff of quality journalism. But even Salama is willing to admit that MENA has made strides towards modernising its outlook. It was MENA that broke the news that Foreign Minister Amr Moussa will move to the Arab League and the agency was considerably "more flexible" in covering last year's parliamentary elections, Salama noted. MENA has also begun to broadcast corrections to its earlier stories, which rarely, if ever, happened in the past. "In the past they used to fear losing credibility or appearing foolish," one insider told the Weekly. "Now, we have the courage to correct printed mistakes, just like any other news agency."
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